Emilian smiled to himself as he thought about Ashlynn. She was an interesting character. His smile faded as he realized what winning this first battle would cost him. She was headstrong and wouldn’t take crap from anyone, which was an admirable trait to him. But he had pushed too hard when trying to find out how controlling and power-seeking she actually was. In fact, he was surprised that she hadn’t shot him out of the sky. Maybe he should try to fix that…
He pressed a button to open communications with her. “Hey, do you want to fly primary escort for the rest of the way and I’ll go wingman?” he asked.
Ashlynn scoffed on the other line. “So now you’re going to pretend to be nice to me?”
Emilian pulled his jet to the right. He eased off the throttle until he was on the side of Ashlynn’s jet. He noticed that the build of their jets were quite different, but he could still see her through the cockpit windshield. He looked forward again and waited in the silence, thinking. “Look,” he started. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m just…” He sighed. “I’m not really that important in the group. It’s like everyone’s got this…pecking order or something and somehow I found my way to the very bottom. Ren is stubborn, inflexible, and” –he paused and made a sound that was almost a laugh—“almost intolerable. But appeasing him is the only way I can make it to the top.”
There was a pause, then Emilian watched as Ashlynn’s plane pulled forward and he fell in place behind her. “You know, you’re never going to make it to the top by ‘appeasing’ the top,” Ashlynn finally said, breaking the silence. “You’ve got to appeal to the others around you. The ones on the bottom of the pyramid are always most important.”
For a moment Emilian thought she was implying that she thought he was important. Then he realized that she was talking about the others in his group. If he enticed the other members of his team, then they would naturally want to give him a leadership position. Ashlynn wasn’t just pretty; she was smart too. “Is that how you did it?” he questioned.
In the short silence that followed, Emilian raised his eyebrows. Did Ashlynn really persuade her group to make her leader? “I guess you could say that,” Ashlynn answered plainly. Emilian tried hard not to laugh and barely succeeded. There was more to this girl than he had originally thought.
“Wait, so you mean to tell me—” Emilan stopped and cleared his throat to rid his voice of the humorous tone. “You influenced everyone to make you leader?”
“Why?” Ashlynn inquired after a break.
Emilian cleared his throat again. “I don’t know…” He stopped, unsure of how to answer.
“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose,” Ashlynn said in all seriousness. “They just liked me for some reason.”
This time Emilian couldn’t hold it in.
“What’s so funny?” Ashlynn asked confusedly.
“I guess I never really saw you as the seductive type,” Emilian answered through his laughter.
“Wha—uh,” Ashlynn began, then almost coughed. There was a small pause but then she surprised Emilian by laughing herself. “I guess it was my charm and good looks that won them over.”
“Or your sense of style,” Emilian added.
“What’s wrong with my sense of style?”
“Nothing. That’s what I’m saying.”
There was a pause. “Or my piloting skills,” Ashlynn continued.
“Or your arguing skills,” Emilian countered.
Ashlynn gasped. “Or maybe it’s my ways of not putting up with anyone’s crap.”
“Or not laughing at their stupidity,” Emilian included.
“That too,” Ashlynn agreed.
Emilian laughed. “Or having a sense of humor. Or caring about your team.”
“Or—wait,” Ashlynn said. “What are you doing?”
Emilian was caught off guard, and he stopped laughing suddenly. “Well…I thought I was cracking jokes and having a laugh.” He paused, not sure what to say. “Am I not funny…?”
“You were complimenting me,” Ashlynn accused.
“Oh,” Emilian realized. “Sorry.” He paused again. “Is that bad?”
“No. Um. It’s fine,” Ashlynn answered. “It’s just…” She halted. “It’s fine.”
Emilian grinned. “It’s because it’s been a while since someone complimented you, huh?”
“Hey,” Ashlynn said.
“Sorry. Sorry. I’ll stop,” Emilian said, becoming serious again. He couldn’t understand the sudden change in her emotions. Maybe there was something bothering her that he didn’t understand. There was a long pause before he spoke. “Hey, Ashlynn?”
“Hm,” Ashlynn responded.
“Did you want to be leader? You know, like when they chose you?”
He waited a long while for her to answer. “Honestly, yes. I like being in charge. I like being the one holding the reins.” She huffed. “But I’m not power hungry, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I’m not asking,” Emilian said defensively. Then he continued sympathetically, knowing that some might mistake her stubbornness for selfishness. “I understand. How long have you known your agents?”
Ashlynn sighed. “Not that long, actually. A couple months or so, some more than others.”
“Wow,” Emilian responded. “You must be really good at influencing people.”
“Well what do you think?” Ashlynn asked, surprising him by the question.
“Well…” Emilian began. She really had won him over, but he didn’t want to tell her that. “I’ll let you know later,” he answered instead.
“What about you? I know you want to make your way higher, but do you really want to be leader?” Ashlynn questioned.
“I’m not sure,” Emilian replied. “Would I have to deal with you?”
“Of course,” Ashlynn said.
“Then…yes.”
“Really?” Ashlynn asked skeptically.
“Ya, sure. Why not?” Emilian inquired.
“Huh,” Ashlynn said, and it almost sounded like a challenge. Maybe she thought she would be too difficult for him. Emilian wondered if she would be. Then he realized how much of a weight had been taken off of his chest after talking to her and making things right with her. He hadn’t even known it was bothering him so much. He was also glad that he had been able to make her open up to him, and not because of the mission. He was actually enjoying her company. He hoped it would always be like this.
***************
“Radio silence from here on out,” Hayden said quietly as he set the grate in place behind him as soundlessly as he could. The space was so cramped that Kate had started out a few feet in, giving him just enough room to close the grate and follow her through the vents. All he could really see were her shoes as she shuffled through the square metal tube in an army crawl. He trusted that she would be following the blueprints in the quickest way to get to the target. He knew she got a high grade in strategy, and he was glad that she was the leading agent in this operation. She led him through the maze of vents, then suddenly she stopped. She stayed there for a while, so he risked asking, “What’s up?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she flipped over onto her back and grabbed something from her belt. He couldn’t tell what she was doing because the red light on his head lamp didn’t shine very far. He continued to wait, wondering why she was waiting for so long and getting nervous about how much time they had left. Suddenly, he heard a shot and a clanking, then a sharp sound as if something locked. Kate continued to move forward and he followed. As he got closer, he realized she was pulling her body upward, so he stopped and watched as she slid out of the vent into a vertical shaft and clipped a repelling mechanism onto her waist and onto a line that hung down from somewhere above. She pulled herself up and out of the vent, then stepped off of the ledge and made her way downwards.
Hayden followed soon after her, glancing upwards to see the repel clamp stuck on a ledge in between the blades of a fan. At first he wondered why it wasn’t moving, then realized the air conditioning must be off or else he would have felt air in the vents earlier. He clamped his own repelling mechanism to the line and followed Kate as well as he could quickly downwards. He avoided the vent openings on the way down until he felt her tap his foot as a signal to stop going. The line moved around below him as Kate unhooked from it and entered into another vent below him. He quickly followed, this time going below the vent that he saw her feet in and entering head first, which was a lot more difficult than coming out. It proved to be more difficult than he thought, and he wasn’t excited about doing it again on the way out. As soon as he was able to get back into the vent, he tapped Kate’s foot and she started off.
After another short while, Kate stopped again, and Hayden silently hoped it wasn’t another vertical shaft. But this time he heard the small humming of the laser cutter as Kate cut through the edges of a panel on the vent. After the third side was finished, she changed the setting on her glove to magnetic and pressed her hand to the panel as she cut the fourth side. Then she carefully pulled the panel back into the vent and set it down away from her, then changed the setting on her glove back to normal. Grabbing a specialized EMT from her belt, she maneuvered herself so she could lower it into the room. With only a few commands, the video cameras were manipulated into a freeze frame and any audio in the room was silenced. She clipped the device back to her belt, then ran another line—this time with a magnetic clamp—down from the vent to the floor. She slid through the hole on her stomach and grabbed onto the line, twisting her body as she came out so that she was facing the vent and could hook onto the edge with her knees for a short while before she walked along the side of the open vent, then kicked off with her feet and swung around onto the line and climbed down the rope quickly.
Hayden watched her go down, then moved the magnetic clamp to the side wall of the vent so that he could grab onto the ledge of the other side of the hole and pull himself across the opening. Then he turned his gloves to magnetic and started lowering himself through the hole backwards until just his arms and shoulders were over the ledge. He let go of the vent base with one hand and grabbed the ledge, then did the same with the other before slowly lowering himself out of the vent with his arms. Then he let go with one hand and grabbed onto the line, wrapping his leg around it. After that, he let go of the ledge with his other hand and slid down the line. He checked his watch before walking up to the case with the talisman.
“You know the system?” Kate asked.
“I think so. I studied the patterns when we came earlier. It’s a regular half-inch plexiglass cover with a cross-grid laserbeam security system,” Hayden answered. He crouched down next to the case and eyed the talisman. “Since it’s on a circular stand instead of a placement holder, I can guess that there’s a vibration and tilt sensor in there somewhere.”
“Can we get past that?” Kate questioned impatiently.
Hayden moved around the case. “Not if movement sensing is omnidirectional. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“There should be a process monitoring and control system somewhere, and an output cable somewhere in this case,” Hayden said excitedly, moving around the exhibit. “Here!” He tapped the side of the case. “There’s a panel.” He crouched down, pulling screwdrivers from his belt until he found the right size.
“Hurry,” Kate reminded, glancing around.
“Got it,” Hayden said, popping the panel off to reveal complex circuitry and wires. He searched through them quickly. “Here, these are from SignalQuest.” He grabbed a chunk of wires and started sorting through them, reading the numbers on the wires and the circuit board. “Oh wow, I found tamper detection. Guess I should disable that first.”
“Hayden!”
“Okay! Okay!” He took out titanium cutters and cut a couple of the wires in the clump, then cut a larger wire connected to the main board. “The sensor and laser systems are down. If I can just find the switch for raising the cover…”
“No time for that,” Kate said tersely. She carved a very uneven circle into the plexiglass with her laser cutter, magnetized her glove, and removed it from the case.
Hayden stood up in a panic. “Um…what about going unnoticed?”
“Time for that is—” Kate reached in and lifted the talisman from the stand carefully, then pulled through the hole and opened a lightweight box attached to her belt.
Hayden checked his watch, and realized they didn’t have much time before a night security would make another sweep of the room. The glanced over at the GPS Kate had set on the edge of the stand and spied a red dot in the hallway, coming closer and closer to their position. He ran towards the entrance from the hallway into this section of the museum, ducking below the line barriers of another exhibit on his way. As he reached the entrance, a sudden, high-pitched siren started ringing through the air. He looked back confusedly and alarmed at Kate, who had just finished clipping the box with the talisman in it shut on her belt. She looked up sharply with an astonished and accusing expression, then whipped her head towards the exhibit he had just trespassed through.
“What about going unnoticed?!” she shouted through the wailing siren. She ran towards the hallway, giving him an incriminating glance just before she clotheslined the guard running into the room. “I’ve got the GPS! Follow me!”
“We can’t take the stairs!” Hayden shouted to her as they ran. “It’s probably flooded with security!”
“And the elevators are most likely on lockdown! I’m well aware of security protocol, thank you!” Kate yelled back.
“So what’s your plan?!” Hayden asked, not slowing down for a moment.
Kate turned sharply and swung a door open. Hayden followed her through onto the staircase. “Go upwards and don’t get shot!” They both ran up a flight of stairs, and tired as they were it was kind of nice not being cramped in the awkward ventilation system anymore. “Look out!” Suddenly Hayden was pushed out of the way just as he heard gunshots ring through the stair column. “Come on!” Kate grabbed him and dragged him up some more stairs, then through another doorway. Hayden watched as she turned on communications via her earpiece. “About face! We’re on floor 16, about five to six stories from the roof. We’ll be coming out of the south side!” She dragged Hayden through another doorway.
“Wait, what?!” Hayden shouted. Kate slid her gun out from her holster and shot through the glass wall on the very edge of the building. “Are you crazy?!” Kate grabbed a chair and swung it into the window, shattering the glass.
“You coming?” she questioned, throwing the chair into the room and holstering her gun on her belt.
“What, through the window?!” Hayden screeched. “Are you out of your mind?”
Suddenly, the door behind them burst opened again. Kate grabbed Hayden by the elbow and pulled him towards the window. “Jump!” she shouted, and in a few seconds they were falling.
***************
Laura had been walking for half an hour before she reached the underground building that she was about to land on earlier. The enemy would hopefully spend several minutes finding her tracks, then spend more than half an hour tracking her back to it. Her traps set in the woods would also hopefully take some of their agents out and confuse the others.
"OK, password, password," Laura thought to herself. She walked to the eastern side of the building and said, "I don't know why there's a building here in the middle of the woods, but I'm tired and I need rest."
"State your name and your agency," a robotic female voice said from the speaker in the door.
"Laura Olivia Ilskov Pang, Heritage Incorporated Agency."
"Hello, Agent Pang. Please stand still momentarily."
Laura stood in scanning position.
"Welcome to the DANSK hideout base." The ground opened up into a dimly lit stairwell, and Laura entered the hideout confidently, letting the door close above her. As soon as the door closed, she heard planes overhead flying towards the tracker. "OK, start the timer." She checked the time, then started working on her final trap for the trackers.
****************